Unofficial Star vs The Infinite Loops
by Clothed in Flames
Summary: I really like the idea of the infinite time Loops, but there is such a huge canon behind them I really don't feel like navigating the forums to try to make any official entries. I'll be writing whatever comes to mind along the lines of the Loops.
1. Chapter 1

I really like the Idea of the Infinite Loops, but there is such a huge canon behind them I really don't feel like navigating the forums to try to make any official entries, and I'm pretty sure some of my ideas would probably break the rules on appropriate content. I've read the MLP loops up to ch176 on fimfiction and poked around the Disney and nickelodeon forums a bit, so I get the basic idea but beyond that I don't really know the stories so I'm kinda just rolling with the "time travelers roaming the multiverse can have any power from the multiverse that would make an interesting story"

Oh and anyone who likes these, cares enough to bother and actually knows what they're doing can feel free to post anything that fits in an official capacity.

* * *

If there's a first loop for Star vs in the Disney thread I didn't find it, so I'll try and write one here. I'm not sure if there's a standard wake up time for them So I'll say it's when Star takes her wand, which in turn is the morning of Star's first day of school.

Marco stumbled as he walked to school, falling flat on his face.

"Ouch! Wait, what, where?" He looked around him in confusion as he tried to piece together conflicting memories, one set saying he was walking to school early in the school year and another saying that he was months further along and had been going on crazy adventures with a magical princess from another dimension... Ok that's probably just a weird dream, no way is there such thing as...

"I'm Star butterfly! I'm a magical princess from another dimension!" or there is.

"Ok this is too weird. I knew that already. I've done this before" Marco said, dazed by the odd turn his day had taken. Star gasped with shimmering eyes

"Omigosh are you a time traveler!"

"That would explain the memories... one thing, do you have a giant book with an annoying blue man in it?" Marco asked hesitantly

"Yes! It's with my stuff, I can show you when I get unpacked... the principal said I'll be staying with the Diaz family, do you know where that is?"

"Yeah, that's my house, come on, I'll walk you there" Marco smiled. The situation was weird, but Star's unbridled enthusiasm was comfortingly familiar.

...

"Oh yes, he definitely has traces of magic that shouldn't be on a normal earthling. I'm inclined to believe him." Glossyrick said with raised a eyebrow. "Time loops are a thing that can happen, but usually on a much smaller scale than what you're describing, when conflicting timelines are trying to work out their differences..."

"Right! Star mentioned that, the space time guy on the Plains of Time helped her with that once! We just have too go..." He reached into his pocket "but I don't have my dimensional scissors yet. I'll have to visit Heckapoo at some point." Star shifted uncertainly at hearing references to things she hadn't done yet, while Glossaryck leveled an appraising look at the boy.

"Definitely things an earthling doesn't normally know." Glossaryck said before turning to the magic mirror mounted on Star's wall "Call Queen Moon." _Calling: Queen Moon_

"Hello Star, did you forget... Glossaryck? What's going on that you need to report so soon?"

"My liege," Glossaryck greeted with a bow. "apparently Star's new friend here is a time traveler, I'd like to call a meeting of the Magic High Comission and these two will be needing transport." Moon's eyes widened in shock as she looked at the boy behind Glossaryck. Marco stepped forward and gave a small bow

"Um, nice to meet you, your majesty, I'm Marco Diaz, Star's guide at school, host here at my house, and friend everywhere, and yeah, this morning I was walking to school and suddenly remembered everything up to a few months from now." He shrugged, not sure what else to say. Moon raised an eyebrow and looked at Glossaryck.

"He has traces of Star's magic on him, especially his right arm, and, more importantly, traces of Eclipsa's magic that I myself sealed away." Moon and Star both gaped at him.

"Uh, hehe, yeah, Star and I read Queen Eclipsa's chapter of the book; Star was unaffected, I... wasn't" he blush and rubbed his neck. Moon shook her head clear

"I'll call the meeting immediately."

...

"Chatting with us via crystal ball we have Omnitraxus Prime, those two are Rhombulus and Lekmet, and you already know Heckapoo." Glossaryck introduced once everyone had arrived at the tower. Heckapoo cocked her head.

"You do?"

"As well as you can know anyone you've chased for 16 years, blowing out their flame to earn a pair of magic scissors." Marco replied with a shrug. She snorted.

"Ok what's this brat on about?"

"He says he's a time traveler, from a few months in the future. Seeing as I can sense magic that I myself placed on him, we must consider this to be true. Omnitraxus, what can you tell us about the state of space-time?" Glossaryck ignored the surprised looks everyone was giving the boy and turned t the cosmic entity displayed in the crystal ball.

"I haven't felt anything obvious, the kid's where he should be in his timeline... or wait, no, there's something letting him diverge, or setting his actions as the base... I can see a few timelines where he's elsewhere, but they're shifting to match this one... let's look farther oh shit." With that ominous expletive the feed cut out, leaving everyone very worried. Moon leveled an overly neutral gaze at Marco, Glossaryck's mention of Eclipsa echoing in her mind.

"I don't suppose your future knowledge can shed any light on this"

"No! I've just been going to school, adventuring with Star, nothing that should do... whatever this is! Maybe something to do with the wand breaking, but that was not new when I was sent back..." Marco said a bit frantically.

"Wait my wand breaks!" Star broke her silence and hugged her wand

"Yeah, Toffee made you destroy it in exchange for not killing me... sorry about that by the way." Moon's eyes widened

"Toffee! What did that monster do to my daughter!" she exclaimed, a snarl just beneath her Queenly composition.

"Nothing directly. He worked for Ludo before taking over Ludo's castle and henchmen, then kidnapped me and held me hostage in a crystal prison before making Star use the Whispering Spell on the wand. He disappeared in the explosion, a tiny Italian unicorn popped up out of nowhere to reactivate what was left of Star's wand, Everyone celebrated our survival and everything went back to normal save some control issues for Star to work out."

"'Tiny Italian'... are we believing this" Heckapoo interjected

"If he's not telling the truth there's been a serious breach in national security that he even knows that the Whispering Spell exists... but no, that shouldn't cause this sort of disaster, so we are no closer to the original problem..." just then the crystal ball blinked back on.

"Sorry about that, I skipped over to one of the faster dimensions to run some tests without keeping you waiting, long story short the Multiverse is heavily damaged if not outright broken" Omnitraxus looked around at those in the room, currently in stunned silence before continuing. "And when I say the multiverse, I don't mean our local dimensions and their timelines, I would have noticed that immediately, I mean the 'big M' Multiverse that our local multiverse is part of. I can monitor the local multiverse, and it seems to be running just fine, but beyond that, just at the edge of what I can perceive..." He sighed "it gets messy, and my knowledge is liable to work on a metaphorical level at best, but the closest that I can tell... ok, someone can get stuck in a time loop on the local level if they diverge too far from the timeline they 'should' be following. As far as I can tell it's like that... but it's our multiverse that's repeating until whatever is wrong is fixed, and for some reason it's using Marco's timeline as a baseline to be looping around. It's nothing he or anyone in this multiverse did, it's just a cosmic accident, and Marco somehow wound up anchoring our multiverse into some semblance of stability"

"Baaaa..." Lekmet made a worried sound.

"Yeah, what happens if Marco dies?" Rhombulus translated.

"If the multiverse is following his story and his story ends... back to the beginning of the loop."

"Great, so the universe depends on one weak little fleshwad not biting the big one?" Heckapoo said incredulously.

"Hey, I am not weak! I proved it to you once and I can do it again, and I'll get my scissors again while I'm at it, in _half_ the time it took me last time!" Marco crossed his arms in front of her and glared at her.

"Bring it punk!" a portal opened underneath him and he fell through. Heckapoo laughed as she jumped through her own portal. Queen moon groaned.

"Well there goes any plans of setting up protections for him. Let's hope Heckapoo doesn't accidentally destroy the multiverse."

...

"Ok so we learned a few things." Marco said as he stepped out of a portal holding a pair of dimensional scissors "Heckapoo was holding back last time and/or is stronger this loop, and more importantly, the dimensions are slightly different than I remember, those two combined meant it _still_ took me 16 years to get these," He waved a pair of straight bronze scissors with his name on them "and I'm realizing that Heckapoo and I kinda ditched this meeting, is there anything else we need to talk about or can I head home?"

"That's quite alright, we were just wrapping up. You and Star head back to earth." Moon said with mild relief. Marco Smiled at Star and opened up a portal, following her through it. "Heckapoo?"

"I can't believe it, but I actually believe him. Boy knew my tricks, he totally would have passed the standard flame test in under a decade." Heckapoo grinned.

"What of his observations of the changed dimensions?" Moon's face contorted slightly with unease.

"The multiverse is stabilizing itself around his story. If his story is boy from Earth meets girl from Mewni..." Omnitraxus began

"Then it's his world and we're just living in it." Rhombulus grumbled, arms crossed

"Baaa," Lekmet shook his head and put a reassuring hoof on Rhombulus's shoulder.

"No, it means that Mewni and Earth are the foundations upon which the rest of the multiverse might be built. They are no less real once built, but there's nothing tying them to a specific form if they're not directly tied into our anchor's story." Glossaryck said. Moon sighed again.

"Back to the whole 'world ends if he dies' thing. Heckapoo, what were your observations? Is the multiverse in good hands?"

"Oh sure, that guy won't go down without a fight." Heckapoo smirked salaciously "I know I wouldn't mind being in his hands in a few years." Moon just face palmed as Heckapoo laughed.

* * *

So this wound up a little forced. I went into this mostly just wanting to explore the implications of canon timey wimeyness, so I found myself struggling with the actual story. I'm happy to have established that Marco won't be bound to the timeline like Star was in "Mathmagic"; that would make for a tortuous loop if the universe itself made you stick to baseline. I think the Looper's explanation would either be a patch by the admins or just the nature of being an Anchor/Looper. I'm not actually sure exactly what is meant by "loop aware" but Glossaryck and Omnitraxus can at the very least deduce something's screwy, so in the right circumstances they might as well be "loop aware".

Anyway, it was a good exercise and make me appreciate why people often don't bother with first loops. Not sure if I'll bother with star's first Awakening


	2. Chapter 2

Star vs Hogwarts:

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good is it?" Harry chuckled internally at his unawake friend's haughtiness, while contemplating what "real spell" he might dazzle her with, only for the visiting looper to beat him to the punch.

"Sounds like a perfectly good spell to me, you just need a little more enthusiasm!" Star Butterfly exclaimed, drawing out a "wand" that wouldn't look out of place in a muggle toy store. Hermione frowned, but before she could protest Star suddenly stood up, swooping her arms in an upward arc as she began to chant "Sunshine! Daisies! Butter _Mellow_!" she cheered, swaying her wand from side to side with the words, "Turn this stupid fat rat _yellow_!" she spun once and leveled her wand at the target like a hammer. In a flash of light and daisies, a slightly greasy "Scabbers" was in fact bright yellow. Hermione gaped, Ron grinned, and Harry just blinked.

"Wicked! How do you undo that, I want to try again!" Ron exclaimed excitedly. Harry snapped out of it and drew his own wand.

"Finite Icantatem" He intoned, curious as to how this might go. Ron stood up and imitated Star

"Sunshine! Daisies! Butter _Mellow_! Turn this stupid fat rat _yellow_!" Harry was prepared to suppress his laughter and console his friend on his inability to replicate out of loop magic, but when Ron's wand swung down there was a flash of daisies and the rat was once again yellow.

 _'So Star brought some of her worlds magic with her; this could be interesting'_ Harry thought.

...

"I'm sorry, it looks like your rat died of high cholesterol. I'd suggest you not feed any future pet so much butter."

' _…yeah, Sirius will forgive me for not being able to exonerate him with proof of Pettigrew's survival, this is too damn funny._ '

...

"Avada Kadavra!"

"Happy sunshine love explosion!" The battling death eaters immediately paused to stare as they tried to process what the Boy-who-lived said and the bright ray of light and hearts that battled with their master's killing curse... only to immediately regret it as they fell to various Karate techniques and flying narwhals from the combatants who where used to that brand of magic.

"How dare you insult me with this ridiculous display!" Voldemort snarled at Harry

"Yeah, it's kinda ridiculous... but I'm looking forward to the 'explosion' part." Harry grinned, and with a small push, a shining doe and stag split off the main beam and rushed toward the "dark lord" in a pincer maneuver. Voldemort was vaporized in the resulting heart shaped mushroom cloud.

* * *

Surprise!

"I don't want your wand. Destroy it." Toffee said as he shoved the plated wand back toward Star

"Whaaaaaat?" Star and Marco gaped.

"Surprise!" Toffee jeered with an all too familiar crazed grin.

"I can't. I don't even know how."

"Yes, you do. It's the first spell your mother taught you." Toffee spoke with a dissonant gentleness.

"The Whispering Spell" Star's eyes widened in realization

"Exactly. Marco's waiting."

"Star...?" Marco said uncertainly. Star knelt and picked up her wand gently.

"I'm sorry." As she whispered, the Wand's colors faded and it's wings crumbled away. Star shoved the wand back toward Toffee.

"Now let Marco go!" she said as she wiped away a tear. Toffee calmly pressed the remote and the crystal cage raised and its door opened. Marco ran to help Buff Frog get away with his tadpoles, and Toffee examined the wand with smug satisfaction.

"Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure..." Toffee said before the wand started to tremble and emit light. The monsters ran, Star took a step back into a fighting stance, and Toffee leaned over the wand expectantly... only for the rising tremors to fizzle out with a small poof of smoke. Toffee frowned at the still wand. He picked it up and held it close to his face to examine it, when the cover opened up. A fist popped out and socked him in the face, and from there Marco continued his assault even as he turned back to his human form. He picked up the stunned Toffee by his neck and held him face to face with a suitably crazed grin.

"Surprise!" With a final headbutt for good measure he flipped back to Star, who caught him in his wand form. Power erupted from the two as Toffee staggered to his feet, looking on in awed confusion.

"Soul resonance!" _now_ the castle exploded, and more importantly Toffee was reduced to scattered ash surrounding a glowing red orb.

"Haha! I had my doubts about turning into a wand when we Woke up in the Soul Eater universe, but that was awesome!" Marco crowed as he turned human. He then cocked his head "My shadow clone just dispersed, Yvgeny and the tadpoles got away safely" Star grabbed his face and turned toward Ludo's egg

"Look! Nature." Ludo busted out of his shell as grossly as usual and looked around in confusion.

"Where's my castle?" Ludo asked

"It's gone." Star said calmly

"What's that red thing?" Marco walked over and picked up the item in question.

"Toffee's soul." he tossed it into his mouth, chewed for a bit and swallowed. He grinned at Ludo, showing many razor sharp teeth. "Delicious" Ludo paled and gulped, nodding numbly. Marco turned around leisurely and surveyed the damage. "Man, we did a number on this place, I kinda feel bad. Oh! Hey Star, let's see if we can use Soul Resonance to boost non-offensive magic!" they clasped hands and Marco turned into a wand once more. Their resonance thrummed in the air as Star lifted her wand over her head

"Maximum super castle reparo!" a shockwave of magic burst out from them, quickly shifting the rubble back into place as it went. When the spell was done the castle looked newly build rather than just repaired. Marco changed back and turned to Ludo with a smile

"There you go, that ought to help get back on your feet," His face darkened in an instant. "but just so you know, try to steal me again and I'll eat your soul."

* * *

It could always be worse

While Marco realized that his argument with Star got a quite a bit more heated than it should have, he still had no idea how they had managed to crash the loop. However it happened, he had served his time in Eiken and was now walking to school as usual. His ping got 2 replies, so they had at least one visiting looper, and as much as it pained him he kind of hoped Star wasn't awake. The visitors could be a good distraction while he cooled down and tried to think of how to patch things up with Star. Marco tried to concentrate on the lessons while he waited to be called to the principal's office, but his words to Star kept echoing in his head. He couldn't really place how the argument started, but he thought that saying ' _Anyone would make a better princess than your baseline self!'_ was what had really sent it into a downward spiral. There was the announcement, he couldn't even bring himself to do the baseline gloating. As he approached he saw two unfamiliar people leave the office, dressed in Mewni royal garb. He sent another ping and the two turned to face him and replied. The woman was short with blond hair curled up like devil horns and the man was tall, gaunt and deathly pale.

"Hello! I'm Marco Diaz, local anchor, welcome to the Mewni-Earth multiverse, or 'Star vs the Forces of Evil' as it's called in the hub. We're not to the point of being able to offer sanctuary like Equestria, but with the danger centered on Star and me and a decent sized multiverse to explore this can make for a decent vacation loop. You seem to be replacing King and Queen Butterfly, so things ought to be pretty sedate for you for starters. Is there anything you'd like to do this loop?"

"Apparently I'm Mandy _Butterfly_ and this is my _husband_ Styx Johansen-Butterfly." The lady's scowl never left her face. "Where is the nearest place we can get a divorce or annulment or whatever?" Marco showed them his map of Mewni and gave them some advice on getting it done with the least political upset.

"If you don't feel like like ruling a country I can run the place from a shadow government or after a coup but for now I should get to Star." the pale man grinned evilly.

"oh _she_ 's not Star this loop. What she is, is _your problem now!_ " he laughed as they disappeared through a portal. Some things clicked in Marco's mind. Styx, as in the river of the dead, and Mandy... that was Grim and Mandy, which leaves... Marco turned to the door of the principal's office apprehensively, praying he was wrong. No such luck. "Princess" Billy sat in a swivel chair, spinning around and laughing like an idiot, with the royal wand stuck up "her" nose. Marco slammed the door and took a deep breath.

"I, Marco Diaz, Pinkie Promise to never speak ill of Star Butterfly ever again, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." he took another deep breath and opened the door again

"Hello Principal Skeeves how can I help-" That was as far as he got before Billy's nose started to glow. Marco could barely process what was happening before the blast sent gore flying through the room.

Marco stumbled as he was walking to school. He cried to the heavens,

"I said a _cupcake_ , not a skull fragment!"


	3. Chapter 3

Some Variants can get pretty ugly:

Queen Moon Butterfly had a bad feeling that Star wasn't entirely listening to her warnings as she handed her the royal wand, but Star's sheer excitement was enough to allow an internal chuckle, as Stars eyes grew wide and shimmered in awe. Just as quickly though, Star's eyes dimmed as she went rigid. Moon watched in horror as Star's eyes changed, becoming impossibly old, and her face contorted in rage.

"TOFFEE!" She howled as her magic erupted. She grew four more arms an a pair of wings and flew into the air, eyes and wand glowing green. "Where is that damn fucking reptile!" somehow it was the foul language that snapped Moon out of her stupor. She spoke as calmly and firmly as she could manage.

"Star, come down here and tell me what's wrong"

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG! That, that...!" Star just shook with rage

"Star!" a voice called out from the other side of the long vacated throne room.

"Marco!" A small part of the normal glimmer entered Star's eyes beneath the haze of rage and despair. Marco tossed something too her. She caught it and stared at it for a few seconds before she leveled a deadpan glare at Marco.

"Eat a snickers. You're not yourself when you're hungry." Marco said with a straight face

"How can you be joking at a time like this!" She said even as she bit angrily into the candy bar. The torrent of magic died down and she landed in front of Marco.

"I'd thought it'd be a good distraction from the whole homicidal rage thing. I figured the calming draught in the candy wouldn't hurt either." Marco smirked playfully. Star's groan was mostly just tired now.

"Alright, I'm calm for now, but I still want to track down Toffee as quickly as possible this loop..." Marco's face turned completely serious

"Already taken care of. I've got him in a warded holding cell watching your last loop in a pensieve."

"What! Why would you give the enemy information! Especially such personal information! How did you even find him that fast!" A flicker of anger and fear rose past the calming draught. Marco just hugged her close, her head buried in his chest.

"Star, you need to check your loop memories" Marco spoke in a calming voice. Star hugged back without a thought and examined her loop memories. She tensed up and tried to push away, but Marco held her fast. She couldn't see what she wanted to confirm but she could feel the scales and claws on her hands, she ran her tongue over sharp teeth, she had no idea how she hadn't noticed the tail that now twitched nervously...

"No no no... this can't be one of those _loops_ , not after..." her voice faltered as she choked back a sob.

"Unfortunately, yes, this is one of the loops where Toffee is your... is the King of Mewni. So yeah he was easy to find, he was right here in the throne room when I peeked in to check on you. I grabbed him while you were still in shock and... _interrogated_ him thoroughly in one of the faster dimensions before coming here. If it's any consolation he's being genuine this time. Toffee and Moon were friends growing up and never had a falling out like they sometimes do. He's a completely different lizard." He let her go from the hug but kept a comforting hand on her shoulder. Star just stared at her scaled hands.

"No, no, he's on me, he's _inside_ me!" her claws dug into the scales on her arms as she hugged herself.

"Star, _stop_. If you aren't up to a transformation spell I have some polyjuice potion you can use." she nodded mutely and drank from the flask Marco handed her. The awful taste and the uncomfortable sensation of the potion working were more than worth being able to feel her own soft skin again. "Now, let's go talk to your mom. She's been nice enough to wait this long on just my shadow clone's short explanation, but I think she'll appreciate the full story." Star looked over to where her mother stood crying, frozen in place where she had been the whole time. She was visibly torn between wanting to blast away the stranger who had admitted to abducting and imprisoning her husband and recognition of the positive effect he was having on her daughter.

"Right. Sorry mom, I forgot you where there..." She managed a weak laugh.

...

King Toffee sat hunched on the floor of his cell, staring into nothingness as he tried to figure out what to do with what he had learned. What that monster wearing his face had done to his daughter... He crushed the rage before it could burn out of control. He could not afford to do anything that would give Sir Marco a reason to kill him, or more importantly keep him from helping his daughter. The light above the door lit up, and Toffee dutifully placed himself in the shackles on the far wall. He was pleasantly surprised to see his wife come bursting through the door... and immediately attack his restraints.

"It's quite alright dear," he began, only to be interrupted when the slash of an energy blade sent sparks flying from the chains.

"No! No it's not! I don't care if this man is Star's friend from another dimension, or time or _whatever_! He _will_ show some respect for the King of Mewni."

"He has plenty of respect for the King of Mewni. The thing is, to him, the king of Mewni is usually River Johansen, and I... look in his bowl of memories if you dare, but I beg you not to delve too deep. Suffice to say the monster known as Toffee is a manipulative bastard of the worst sort, and the restraints I am under now would be _lax_ for him. This _is_ Sir Marco trusting me. Because the last time he trusted me, it was a world like this one... except our marriage and Star's birth were just a ploy to create a more powerful vessel for that _creature_ to inhabit." His wife holding him tight made it easier to let go of the anger, but he still snarled the last bit. "No, I'm fully willing to go through whatever precautions it takes to make Star feel safe, however much it pains me that she needs to feel safe from me." This time he just deflated. He looked toward the door where Marco stood vigil. "I wish I could fight this monster directly, but since I am not 'looping', I will teach you everything I know about the dark magics I think he is employing, that you may better thwart his plans in the future." Marco raised an eyebrow.

"I will teach you as well, and watch over Toffee if you don't trust him near components of dark magic." Marco looked at the Queen, hugging her husband with a carefully hidden look of desperation. Marco's eyes softened and he sighed.

"Thank you, that will work well. I'm really sorry about all of this. The loop that has Star distraught was rough on me too, and it still stings even after a few solo loops' cool down. I'd certainly like to think my legilimency is good enough I'd at least see that you were hiding something, but my interrogations show you to be genuine. Being too paranoid to trust my own abilities is not a path I want to go down." He looked at the two again. "I'll release you into the Queen's custody as soon as Star is comfortable with it. I will hold weekly mental examinations of you and everyone you come in contact with to look for signs of coercion, magical or otherwise. Beyond that, just know that I'll be watching you. We'll start those lessons tomorrow after breakfast... or whenever Queen Moon is ready, we can't leave Mewni in anarchy after all."

...

"OK, I think that's everything. Now you know how to make, and more importantly destroy, the bone soul cages I think that wand is based off of. I hope this is of use to you and not just a 'variant' you'll never see again" Toffee said as the experiment they'd been working on disintegrated. Marco nodded.

"This ties in fairly well with what I've seen before. There's no such thing as useless knowledge." He turned to the King with a level gaze. "So, this is the part where you tell me the real reason for teaching me all this" to King Toffee's credit he only flinched back slightly before letting out a dry chuckle

"Of course you're on to me." he said with a small, tired smile

"Insisting her Majesty not attend our final lesson was the biggest clue" Marco nodded solemnly

"The stated reason stands true, you can use this against the magics of other Toffees, but with how you do not fully trust me, I thought you might want to know how to destroy those magics before you accepted my proposal. I want you to bring my bones with you, with my soul bound to them, so that I can fight that monster with my face directly." If Marco was the slightest bit surprised he didn't show it, and simply nodded.

"I never take souls with me between loops without express informed consent, so allow me to inform you: that is a very dangerous request. The afterlife is complicated enough without throwing the loops into the mix. This process on it's own could very well block your access to whatever afterlife there is, and should your soul be released in another world the afterlife as you know it could very well not exist, especially not with the people you know and love in this world. What you are requesting is an effective eternity as my slave, probably spending most of your time in my pocket, to occasionally fight the same battle over and over again, probably to face oblivion on the destruction of the artifact binding you." Marco's eyes were as cold as the oblivion he promised.

"Preventing a single tear from falling down Star's cheek would be a victory worth that price, and if we truly have eternity I know we can do better than that" King Toffee said resolutely. His face twisted momentarily "and I will admit that being able to tear apart the creature that hurt my daughter is an appreciated perk." he winced and schooled his expression. He closed his eyes and lower his head "I'm sorry, I've been trying to..."

"Oh I know all about controlling one's darker urges" Toffee felt it before he even looked up, and when he did it took everything he had to ignore the survival instincts screaming _run._ Marco was a hazy mass of some ethereal substance between shadows and blood, with too many eyes and teeth, but those features where second to the shear Madness in the fanged grin on what was left of his face. "I replaced a the vampire king that would later be known as Alucard once, you know. I went mad with bloodlust for centuries before Van Hellsing's replacement beat some sense into me. I had a bit of narrative causality working against me, but that was just the final catalyst that I should have been able to handle had I not already been in a downward spiral. In the following centuries I healed enough that when Star Woke Up as Star Fairbrook Wingates Johansen, she could pull me back to my normal self." Toffee chose not to risk his sanity trying to figure out how the Mad smile could be "warm" and "nostalgic" too. "Then was the time we went to the world where reapers called Meisters fought corrupted souls using living 'Demon Weapons'. I was Star's wand that loop." He demonstrated it by turning his hand into a familiar wand. "That loop I was infected by a substance called black blood, which grants power by inducing Madness," his grin widened, something Toffee wanted to think was impossible. "but once again Star pulled me back." Marco shrunk back down to his normal form, only keeping an evil aura. "The point I'm trying to make is that I don't blame or think less of you for getting angry or wanting revenge; I've been there and back many times. Honestly, I would be more suspicious of you if you showed no emotional reaction to your daughter's plight. The important thing is that you are in control and your anger is focused at helping those you love. One last thing: As a high level vampire, I can take in the mind and powers of those whose lifeblood I drink, and as a Demon Weapon I can eat souls to gain power." he stepped forward and stood face to face with Toffee, once again deathly serious. "That's what I want to do. I honestly don't have much use for the bone puppet you want to make, but I respect your resolve, and the opportunity to absorb a powerful, willing soul is too rare to pass up. I want to eat you mind and soul, then make your bone puppet with the remains; that will be an interesting experiment. My mindscape is more comfortable than the inside of my pocket, and you'll even have roommates. Any questions? Do you still agree?" Toffee swallowed and took a deep breath to regain his resolve.

"No questions. I, King Toffee of Mewni, swear my undying loyalty to Marco Diaz, and to do whatever it takes to help Star Butterfly."

"Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?" Marco asked, complete with pantomime.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Toffee paused with his hand still over his eye and blinked. Marco smiled cheerfully, dark aura completely gone.

"It's a common oath in the multiverse, enforced by the chaos goddess of laughter and parties. I like using it because Pinky Pie is scary enough to enforce it but benevolent and understanding enough not to hold you to the letter if you slip up. Like, my Pinkie Promise not to speak ill of Star allows for constructive criticism... and your promise to help Star will allow you to punch evil empress Star in the face rather than being bound to collect virgin blood for her to bath in." Marco clapped his hands "Anyway, lets get this show on the road! I used more vampire power than I have in a while and I'm thirsty." Toffee kind of wished Marco still had the shadow thing going on, as a normal looking boy so casually referring to his imminent lethal exsanguination was more than a little creepy. He knelt before Marco anyway.

"Yes master." Thinking of what he could now do for his daughter, he didn't even flinch when the fangs sank into his neck.

* * *

AN ok so I think this one could be way more clear in my mind than it is typed out. First thing is the timing could be seen as awkward, with Marco accomplishing that much before Star is even done her temper tantrum, but I really think dimensional travel and the inter-dimensional time dilation is just that broken.

No seriously, I will be writing a loop were Star and Marco win a war by ducking into a fast dimension and watching their enemies in slow motion through the spying spell, sniping them before they can do anything.

If it wasn't clear, Marco once replaced Alucard of _Hellsing_ (specifically the manga/ Hellsing Ultimate, as that's what I've actually read/watched), and River Johansen replaced van Hellsing himself, making the titular vampire hunting group the Johansen organization for that loop, while Star replaced Sir Intergra Hellsing.

Now this could potentially make Marco as OP as Alucard, but 1) in Looper terms that's potentially not all that powerful and 2) I think Marco will actually be more inclined to stick to his martial arts and the like after that loop; Alucard knows only a human can destroy a monster. While a neat trump card I think Marco will know better than to throw away his humanity lightly.


	4. Chapter 4

Tiny blue marble

"So... you're breaking up with me... because you're 'looping' through time. And you're so damn old that you lost track at 2376. Which was itself millennia ago." Jackie spoke slowly and deliberately, torn between annoyance and confusion, trying to wrap her head around what _had_ to be some kind of practical joke. Except Marco was dead serious.

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm really sorry Jackie, I know we've barely been dating a month from your perspective, so this must seem really sudden. I still care about you, and I'd love to hang out and be your friend... but I can't bring myself to be in a romantic relationship with someone who won't remember in a few months anymore." Marco looked her in the eyes with a sad smile.

"'Anymore'? So you have tried to make this work before?" Jackie's annoyance softened at his sincerity and a somewhat morbid curiosity arose. _Then why won't you try with me?_ Marco let out soft chuckle.

"Yeah. Pretty much the first thing that I tried to do when I started looping was figure out how to start dating you sooner. I'd had a crush on you for 'forever' after all" He allowed himself a chuckle at the idea of thinking of a decade or so of childhood as forever. "and I had just learned I actually had a chance, I actually dated you! It really hurt that first time, when I went to tell you about this weird, amazing thing that happened to me and I realized you wouldn't remember me. I made and dismantled so many plans, and I could usually start dating you within a week." He smiled and an old book appeared in his hand. "I got inspired by one of the more successful looping relationships, and got you a diary." he frowned a little bit. "I think that mostly works for them because they were in an established relationship before the loops started. With me trying to get us into a relationship, what am I supposed to do? 'You will go out me? Oh that means so much to me Jackie! by the way that speech I just made was calculated over centuries to get the response I wanted, and here's a book of all the other Jackies I've dated, try to live up to them'" He stopped and took a deep breath. "So for a while I only bothered with that when I Woke Up already in a relationship, and that meant variant loops or late starts like this Loop, all the while feeling guilty about reducing our relationship, reducing _you_ , to something to be 'bothered with'... and here we are." They were both silent for time, Jackie dumbstruck and Marco exhausted. He raised his head from where it had slumped and looked at her.

"Are you okay? I'm really sorry to unload all of this on you" He said softly. Jackie shook herself out of her daze and looked back at him.

"Am I okay? Are _you_ okay? I'm bummed to lose my boyfriend so fast, but you've lost your girlfriend thousands of times! It's okay to unload your feelings on me, You're the one who carried them in the first place! You're the one whose worse fear was 'that we're all alone on this tiny blue marble, floating in the infinite expanse of the universe, ripped from the center, and ejected out into a black void for no reason at all'. This time loop business cannot be good for that kind of existential despair." She took his hand with concern on her face. "Are you okay?" Marco just looked at her with a warm smile, even as tears formed in his eyes. He reached out and hugged her gently.

"As long as I have a friend willing to ask me that, I think I will be." Jackie was taken aback, as Marco had always been nervous about initiating physical affection, but she recovered quickly and hugged him back with a small smile of her own. After a short time however she pulled back with a sober expression.

"Seriously though, no existential dread?" she said as she looked him over as if for injuries. Marco let out a bark of laughter.

"Yeah, I had my moments, but I've seen far to many worlds and amazing things to worry about our tiny blue marble. People are surprisingly resilient, and especially with this world's interdimensional travel I think we could survive literally being thrown out of orbit. With everything I'm learning and all the experience I'm getting modernizing Mewni, I really think I'll be able to knock humanity up to spacefaring civilization before too long. Not my specialty, but with an effective eternity at my disposal there aren't many problems I won't be able to tackle." Jackie blinked at him

"Not quite what I meant but that's... good?"

* * *

So apparently some of the posts say Jackie Lynn-Thomas is a stealth anchor? What might that be like, and why would she bother?

MLP crossover, references to Girl Genius and the SCP foundation

continues directly after recounting the above:

"If the answer had been no, I would have told him right then and there, but he really did seem okay. He spent the rest of the loop regaling me with his adventures, and he just seemed so happy." Jackie Lynn Thomas, currently a changling disguised as a black unicorn with not an inkling of her usual seaside palette, sat at Big Mac's bar next to Chrysalis and Cadance. She took a large swig of her cider "Then the Hellsing loop happened and he was without that friend for centuries, and now he's some dark demigod, with forbidden knowledge from all over the multiverse locked up in his head. He couldn't just stick with Eclipsa's chapter of the book, no, he's got to go collect every little bit of dark magic he stumbles across!" She took another swig. "As much as he loathes the SCP universe I have no idea why he's collecting their cognitohazards, I think he just wanted to telefrag Toffee with an ontological billiard ball.

"Sometimes I feel like I didn't do enough for him, like I coulda helped him avoid the dark side if I'd actually interacted with him fully. And then of course there's Star. I have no idea why it took me so long to realize it, but that girl is a genius! I mean I kinda knew she was a magical prodigy, but I never thought of her as, well, _smart_.

"Then one loop she replaced Agatha Heterodyne. She Dipped Down into the fucking _Dyne Spring,_ You know, the magic water that usually _kills people_ , and proceeded to build _something_ that hurt my eyes to look at out of half of Castle Heterodyne and fold the space down to fit it into a wand using the gate monolith thing in the Red Cathedral. She made a fucking steampunk magic wand, all while limiting herself to in loop abilities because of a bet with Marco! Then she declared war on Europa, because she thought it would be good to give them a common enemy to unite against and because it would be fun! And where was I? Putzing around as Othar Trygvassen's spunky girl sidekick! At least I learned some really good tracking and evasion techniques, and having a big brother was nice.

"That was just a bizarre loop in general, Oskar Greason replace Gilgamesh Wulfenbach and shot lightning from his Keytar to the tune of thunderstruck." She frowned at her empty glass "Star and Marco are both _way_ too smart, even if it takes a dive into the Madness Place for Star to show it in the normal sense. I think I've only managed to stealth this long because I managed to establish early on that Jackie Lynn Thomas is naturally variable. I'm just the periphery love interest after all, why would the loops crystallize my personality and interests too much?" Her smile was from more than the refilled mug. "It kept things interesting back when I still dated Marco. My interests could shift and we could learn new things about each other and have fun without getting bored of each other. It was simpler back then. I got my normal, laid back life and they got their crazy adventures." She sighed and drank more cider. "I kinda regret being so lazy in the beginning, now. I have fallen soooo far behind. I think the only thing I'm better than them at is occlumency, I have no idea how I'd get through a game of truth or punishment otherwise. Oh and skateboarding of course.

"I might be the anchor, but Marco is _way_ older than me. By a _baseline_ run he gets an extra 16 years per loop, and there's been times he ducks into a faster dimension and comes back one weekend and thousands of years later as a multi-dimensional emperor! Even if I could stand millennia of training on my own like that or even really gain anything just from self study, I never figured out immortality because I'm not the one with hundreds of masters in medicine and biology and a necromancer's wet dream of dark magics to alter.

"And when they're awake I can't do anything, because Marco seals off all the fast or dangerous dimensions against MLEs, and Star has her spying spell so she can see anything I do, and that doesn't even need to be malicious, just looking around the school for me to meet up could lead to her seeing me going Loopy and raise awkward questions. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up or if I even _should_ " Jackie finally collapsed with her forehead on the counter.

"Well, since the latter could render the former moot, let's start there; why are you keeping your looping from your friends in the first place?" Cadance asked gently now that the half drunken ramble was over. Jackie rolled her head to look at the goddess of love, cheek still squashed on the counter.

"Well like I said, it started out because I wanted to use the loops to be a lazy teenager and _not_ to go on dangerous adventures. The longer it went the more awkward it would get to admit I was there all along, I've seen both of them do a lot of things they thought they were 'alone' for. But mostly, There was this one loop, before they even started looping. It was my first variant loop, aside from Marco being a girl, 'cause that happens way more often than usual, and Star and Marco met, and Star's eyes started to shimmer, and Marco just stopped breathing, and it was love at first sight, and THEY WERE SO. FUCKING. ADORABLE! They acted exactly like normal except Star would greet him with a kiss as well as a hug, and the snacks he made her would be heart shaped, and they would use cute pet names, and they danced under the blood moon on purpose, and it was perfect!

"Ever since I've just seen that just under the surface of their normal relationship, and I used to just dismiss it as a really good variant but then Marco started breaking up with me and it actually happened! And then it didn't and then it did and then it didn't and now I don't even know what they call it but it's not a couple but it should be but it works anyway and they're happy and I can't just toss myself back into the equation and make things all chaotic again!" Her audience just stared for a moment until Chrysalis let out a laugh.

"So SS Jarco is keeping itself dry docked to avoid so much as splashing Starco, ey?" she shook her head and chuckled, taking a swig of her own booze. Cadance just raised an eyebrow.

"Surely you know that Marco would respect your wish not to enter a relationship and that it wouldn't actually affect the two of them, except to give them their friend back." Cadance reassured warmly.

"Well yeah, but not being in a relationship and not wanting to be are two different things, and if he's moping about having me back as an option except not then he's not thinking about Star."

"He'll never not be thinking about Star, and if Marco's moved on from not having you as an option because he thought you weren't looping why couldn't he move on from you not wanting to? More importantly, are you sure he'd even want to date you anymore? Have you talked to him?" Jackie was confused at Cadance's question, but realized she _had_ just recounted a time she'd talked to him without giving herself away and thought of similar conversations.

"Last time it came up he said he had no idea what he'd do if I started looping, though I guess that was a while ago... I think it's really really buried rather than gone gone, and if he's not attracted to 'Jackie Lynn Thomas' anymore it's largely because she's just a dumb teenager, So I see no reason he wouldn't be interested in me, and I'm 95 percent sure that's not narcissism talking." Jackie finally resigned herself to sitting upright again as she failed to drink with a cheek on the counter, and took another swig of booze. Cadance bit her lip and Chrysalis rolled her eyes

"So, you started off stealthing because you wanted to be lazy, and avoid dangerous adventures, but now you're bored and want to do more things, and it's never been like Star and Marco would force you to do something you didn't want to anyway, so that excuse is out." Chrysalis waved one hoof dismissively as she took a sip of her drink with the other. "It'll be awkward to admit you've been ignoring your friends for eons, but that's not gonna change, and even if they devote a decade to punishing you, they'll devote millennia to getting you up to speed because they'll be so overjoyed at not being alone in the loops anymore." Chrysalis narrowed her eyes a bit "They've both been part of my swarm before too, I know they're lonely, and I think you do too." Jackie dropped her eyes and blushed, and Chrysalis continued in a slightly lighter tone. "In fact, I think you knew exactly how this conversation would go, and you wanted to talk to Cadance so she could tell you exactly how wrong it was to manipulate your friends for the sake of shipping them.

"So, let's just assume you already know you have no reason to hide from your friends but have been doing it anyway and so are unlikely to change. How do you get away with it?" Jackie cringed at the stark assessment but rose to meet her gaze. "Star and Marco themselves are probably your best resource in your home loop for getting up to speed, they are your friends and would be happy to help you, even if you can't get too in depth in one loop. You should probably try to tag along on Marco's extended adventures, he's sure to teach you a trick or two to immortality if you're there long enough and the sheer time will disguise your shifting from your baseline persona to closer to the real you.

"On that note, any Variant with the slightest change to your backstory will be your new best friend, you can question them a little more openly and they'll dismiss it as a variant. When you're alone, there are plenty of online courses and the like available that you can download to help your self study, and in all the multiverse it should be pretty easy to find an AI to teach you, it'll be worth asking Applebloom about.

"Hellebore, you could steal Star's book and have Glossaryck teach you. Don't dismiss the idea of finding a teacher, I think you're trapping yourself a bit, getting stuck on 'I can't act overtly or I'll get caught', but it's only Star and Marco you need to hide from. They can each tell when the other is Awake by their Blood Moon bonds, and I think between Cadance and I we can teach you to feel that too... well, not the bond itself obviously, but that they have such a bond. And even if you can't figure out immortality to fully capitalize on the inter-dimensional time dilation, you can learn a lot in a lifetime. Twilight might be able to help you there too.

"There's always a risk of getting spotted by another stealth looper, but a lot of them don't care to spread the news and you mostly want to get yourself lost in the dimensions anyway, so that reduces the risk. You're already an accomplished actress, fine tune your disguising abilities a bit and it really ought to be fairly easy to take up a new persona in a random dimension. I can help you with that sort of thing. And of course fused loops are fun, you can learn a lot and once again, so long as you're not important to the 'plot' you can disappear and take on a new persona, assuming you were recognizable in the first place. We can discuss specifics when we're sober enough to remember." Jackie blinked and nodded, staring thoughtfully into space. Cadance tilted her head and frowned.

"Yes, that is pretty flimsy logic and you know it. There's more to this than 'OMG I ship them so hard I can't let myself come between them', isn't there?" Cadance's voice was stern but not unkind. Jackie groaned and put a hoof to her face.

"I really was going on about that wasn't I?" Jackie sighed and stared at her last half glass of cider longingly before pushing it away with a bitter laugh. "Yeah, it's not just that. It's just, they're perfect together. No, no," She waved away her companions' concerns before they could do more than raise an eyebrow "I don't mean like that. I mean as a, as a team, as a unit, I swear they've worked out some kind of telepathy, but they know each other so well they barely need it. They just work and fight together so perfectly, to hell with the romantic implications, I just don't know it there's a place for me. I feel like it's even the reason I'm the anchor, it's like someone decided they couldn't possibly separate those two by making one the anchor, so they chose someone else. And that's all I am, the placeholder picked at random to keep the main characters on even footing. I'm the boring, mundane love interest..."

"Stop." Cadance put a hoof on Jackie's shoulder. Jackie's breath caught, and she only then realized she'd been hyperventilating. "Now I think we're getting somewhere. Jackie, the hub world's recollections of our stories can be useful for a bit of organization and perspective, but you can't let the facet of the story that happened to be recorded define you. Chrysalis wouldn't even be here if she was tied to being the hammy evil queen she was in baseline. We exist in our own stories even when another's is being recorded. Don't ever dismiss yourself as just a background pony... or character as the case may be. I cannot emphasize enough, Star and Marco are your friends, and even if there were no room for you, they'd make room." Cadance sqeezed Jackie's shoulder and nuzzled her cheek, then stepped back. Chrysalis turned Jackie to face her and looked her in the eye.

"You're right. You where chosen because you aren't Star or Marco." Jackie froze and closed her eyes against tears, but Chrysalis pressed on, lifting the girl's chin to lock eyes again."You're not the boy who fell oh so easily into the thrall of forbidden magic and whose existential fears could very well have driven him insane from the helplessness of the loops. You're not the girl who thought it was perfectly reasonable to rig a football field with explosives and went full psycho stalker/conspiracy theorist because she was jealous of another exchange student. You're not the kleptomaniacal tentacle fetishist, the loser king who couldn't control his country for a day, the desperate queen who made a Faustian bargain to avenge her mother, the fat idiot in the possum costume, the skinny idiot who nearly got eaten by a fairy, or any other 'character' who might have been made anchor.

"Who you are is the girl who's kind enough to listen to a guy's inane, insecure ramblings, have zero problem with her boyfriend living with another girl, or even just to shrug off a broken skateboard. The girl who's reliable enough you could set a watch to your and Marco's daily greetings. The girl who'll attack an army of rats with skateboard to help her friend. You see 'boring and mundane', but the admins see ' _stable_ ', and that's a very good thing in a surreal loop in a broken universe." Jackie just starred, eyes wide before her caught breath resumed as gasped, laughing sobs and she hugged the changling queen. Chrysalis rolled her eyes but smiled and put an arm around her for-the-loop daughter and drank up the grateful affection.

"All right, I think I'll be able to tell them." Even as she said it Jackie felt the ancient nervousness crawl up through her relief. She frowned and shook off what she could. "But maybe not right away. I think I'll plan and get myself a bit more up to speed while I wait for the right moment." her frown slowly morphed into a grin. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when... _stable_ old Jackie Lynn Thomas busts out the Loopy mojo."

* * *

AN Damn it I really hadn't thought much of the "Jackie's the anchor" thing when it was just a footnote not backed up by any of the few snippets I found and not worth putting in the spreadsheet, but I think I sold myself on the idea. I had thought it kind of strange that Marco was listed as anchor for exactly the reasons Chrysalis alluded to.

References explanation; Girl Genius is a Webcomic about mad scientists called "Sparks" that rule steampunk, sorry, "gas lamp fantasy" Europa. Badly. The Dyne is a Spring exploded to a river whose magic water powers the living castle Heterodyne and has some... strange effects. Agatha Heterodyne, the protagonist, drank a cup of Dyne water and began to levitate herself and her tools and would have exploded if she hadn't diverted the energy into finishing a medical procedure/experiment for which they where short on life energy.

(getting links into fanfiction is annoying, google Girl Genius Friday, April 16, 2010)

"the gate monolith thing in the Red Cathedral" is a gate monolith thing in the Red Cathedral that acts as a portal out of Mechanicsburg... yeah, that's the relevant non-spoilery info. Star just studied the thing to figure out the Girl Genius universe's space-time stuff to get her wand to do what she wanted.

(Sort of spoilers, google girl genius Monday, May 06, 2013)

Jackie replaced Sanaa "Wilhelm" Tryggvassen, little sister of Othar Tryggvassen _(Gentleman adventurer!)._ Sanaa wanted to adventure with Othar, but he thought it would be too dangerous so he left her behind. She winds up guilting him into letting her be his sidekick after recounting how she wound up imprisoned in castle Heterondyne for piracy.

(google Girl Genius Monday, March 15, 2010)

Gilgamesh Wulfenbach is heir to the empire of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, who conquered much of Europe just to pull it back together from the constant fighting of all the sparks. Gilgamesh is one of Agatha's love interests and once single-handedly defeated an army of giant walker tanks with a staff that called down lighting.

(google "girl genius" Monday, November 26, 2007)

The SCP foundation is a wiki that details the anomalous items contained by the titular foundation, SCP stands for either "Special Containment Procedure" or the foundation's motto of "Secure, Contain, Protect". They do very bad things to keep even worse things from happening. A cognitohazard is basically knowledge that is dangerous just for knowing it. The ontological billiard ball refers to SCP-609, a green billiard ball that is the physical manifestation of a thought experiment and can be moved literally with a thought or visualization... regardless of whether it was intentional or whether there was already something where the ball moves, such as a researcher's frontal lobe or mammary tissue. And it multiplies if multiple people try to move it at once. It's in the most dangerous class of SCP for a reason, and it would probably be rather irresponsible of Marco to use it against Toffee, but it makes for amusing drunken rambling.

(If I need to tell you to google SCP-609 your google-fu needs work.)


End file.
